Immigrants. Dance. Arts. Conference

Thursday, November 8, 2018
12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Registration and service fair open at 11:00 a.m.


Kupferberg Center for the Arts at Queens College
65-30 Kissena Blvd, Flushing, NY 11367
Reeves Avenue between 61st Road and the Horace Harding Expressway

Find directions and accessibility features here.


The conference will make use of multiple theaters and communal spaces for panels and breakout discussions, a networking lunch, pop-up performances, and more.

 

Full Day Schedule

Time Activity Location
11:00 a.m.   Registration Colden Auditorium Lobby 
Service Fair Colden Auditorium Lobby
Legal Clinic Colden Auditorium Conference Room
12:00 p.m.        Opening Keynote and Breakout Session:
Advancing Immigrant Rights through Dance		 Colden Auditorium
1:40 p.m.

Panel & Breakout Sessions:

  • Role of Presenters in Advancing Immigrant Artists
  • Immigrant Audiences and Audiences for Immigrant Artists

Goldstein Theatre stage
and Colden Auditorium stage

 
  Mid-Conference Break  
3:45 p.m. Networking Lunch Goldstein Theatre Lobby
and Colden Auditorium Lobby
Service Fair Colden Auditorium Lobby
Legal Clinic Colden Auditorium Conference Room
Pop-Up Performances curated by Queens Theatre Throughout communal spaces
5:00 p.m.

Panel & Breakout Sessions:

  • Role of Funders in Advancing Immigrant Artists
  • Dance Education for Immigrant Students

Goldstein Theatre stage
and Colden Auditorium stage
7:00 p.m.  Closing Keynote: Immigrants. Dance. Arts. — Stories from the Field   Colden Auditorium

 

Registration
11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Registration will be available throughout the day
Colden Auditorium Lobby

Service Fair
11:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Colden Auditorium Lobby

Connect with organizations that provide resources, services, and networking opportunities for immigrant dance artists and workers. Participating groups will share information about how you can be involved in their programs as well as how they can be of support to immigrant artists and workers.

Participating groups include:

  • Artspace Sanctuary & New Sanctuary Coalition
  • Lotus Music & Dance
  • Make the Road
  • Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs
  • New York Foundation for the Arts
  • New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
  • The Actors Fund

 

Legal Clinic
11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., and 3:00 to 5:00 p.m
Colden Auditorium Conference Room and Production Offices

The Legal Clinic, organized by Dance/NYC Board Chair Elissa D. Hecker, offers 30-minute individual consultations with arts and entertainment attorneys who specialize in immigration law. The attorneys are volunteering either through the Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Section of the New York State Bar Association or on their own. Attorneys are prepared to discuss legal issues pertaining to immigration questions that arise in the entertainment and arts fields.

Attendees who wish to participate in the Legal Clinic should sign up for a slot through an online form at goo.gl/forms/WUP2JbNsfakdX0wo1.

 

Opening Keynote

12:00 to 12:55 p.m.
Colden Auditorium, Capacity: 300
Five (5) spaces for wheelchair seating are available.
 

Welcome Remarks

Featured speakers:

  • Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, PhD, President, Queens College
  • Commissioner Bitta Mostofi, Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs
  • Alejandra Duque Cifuentes, Acting Co-Executive Director, Programming and Justice Initiatives
  • Milena Luna, Acting Co-Executive Director, Operations and Grantmaking

 

Conversation on Advancing Immigrant Rights through Dance
What is the role of dance makers and artistry in the movement for immigrant rights?

Featured speakers:

  • Dr. Derrick León Washington, dance anthropologist, arts activist, and independent curator (moderator)
  • Pascal Rioult, Artistic Director, Choreographer, Rioult Dance
  • Potri Ranka Manis Queano Nur, Founder, Artistic Director, and Tradition-Bearer, Kinding Sindaw

 

Panels & Breakout Sessions

Each session will consist of an introductory panel discussion that will provide participants with food for thought followed by facilitator-led small group discussions. All panel and breakout sessions will take place on the stages of the Goldstein Theatre and Colden Auditorium. All seating is accessible.

 

Advancing Immigrant Rights through Dance
1:10 to 1:40 p.m.
Goldstein Theatre stage and Colden Auditorium stage
Capacity: 300

Following the opening keynote, this breakout session will explore the role of dance makers and artistry in the movement for immigrant rights and ways to best support immigrant artists in the metropolitan New York City area. Participants will engage in facilitated small group discussions to identify needs and recommendations for a more equitable dance ecology.

 

Role of Presenters in Advancing Immigrant Artists
1:45 to 2:40 p.m., Goldstein Theatre stage
2:50 to 3:45 p.m., Colden Auditorium stage
Capacity: 300

This session explores the role of presenters in strengthening the landscape of dance making for immigrant artists. How can presenters better serve immigrant artists and audiences? What is their role as sanctuaries? Participants will engage in facilitated small group discussions directly following the panel to identify needs and recommendations for a more equitable dance ecology.

Featured speakers:

  • Yasemin Ozumerzifon, Director of Community Action, Gibney (moderator)
  • Abou Farman, Assistant Professor, New School; New Sanctuary Movement, Artspace Sanctuary 
  • Abdel R. Salaam, Artistic Director, DanceAfrica; Executive Artistic Director and Choreographer, Forces of Nature Dance Theatre
  • Karesia Batan, Executive Director, Queensboro Dance Festival
     

Immigrant Audiences and Audiences for Immigrant Artists
1:45 to 2:40 p.m., Colden Auditorium stage
2:50 to 3:45 p.m., Goldstein Theatre stage
Capacity: 300

This session explores how to expand opportunities for increasing the dance field’s engagement of immigrant audiences and developing audiences for immigrant artists. The panel will share what resources and tools immigrant artists need and how to engage audiences as advocates for immigrant artists and immigrant rights. Participants will engage in facilitated small group discussions directly following the panel to identify needs and recommendations for a more equitable dance ecology.

Featured speakers:

  • Marlène Ramírez-Cancio, Associate Director, Arts & Media, Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics (moderator)
  • Mersiha Mesihovic, Artist; Artistic Director, CIRCUITDEBRIS
  • Naomi Sturm, Director of Public Programs, Center for Traditional Music & Dance

  • Ya Yun Teng, Community Outreach – Chinese Project Director, Flushing Town Hall
     

Role of Funders in Advancing Immigrant Artists
5:00 to 5:55 p.m., Goldstein Theatre stage
6:00 to 6:55 p.m., Colden Auditorium stage
Capacity: 300

This session explores the role of funders in strengthening the landscape of dance making for immigrant artists. How can funding be leveraged to advance immigrant artists and their role in furthering immigrant rights? Participants will engage in facilitated small group discussions directly following the panel to identify needs and recommendations for a more equitable dance ecology.

Featured speakers:

  • Sara Reisman, Executive Director and Artistic Director, Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation
  • Tom Finkelpearl, Commissioner, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs

 

Dance Education for Immigrant Students
5:00 to 5:55 p.m., Colden Auditorium stage
6:00 to 6:55 p.m., Goldstein Theatre stage
Capacity: 300

This session explores the opportunities for strengthening dance education for immigrant students in and outside of public schools by investigating solutions-oriented frameworks. Panelists will address how educational programs can nurture the development of artistry within immigrant youth so that they can explore pathways to becoming dance artists, educators, and advocates. The panel will explore how collaborations between the dance and education communities can advance language access, learning, and artistry among immigrant students. Participants will engage in facilitated small group discussions directly following the panel to identify needs and recommendations for a more equitable dance ecology.

Featured speakers:

  • María Cioè-Peña, Assistant Professor, Early Childhood, Elementary, and Literacy Education, Montclair State University (moderator)
  • Ana Nery Fragoso, NYCDOE Director of Dance, Office of Arts and Special Projects
  • Ben Espinosa, NYCDOE Arts Partnership Manager, Office of Arts and Special Projects
  • Dian Dong, Associate Director, Chen Dance Center
  • Eduardo Vilaro, Artistic Director & CEO, Ballet Hispánico

 

Mid-Conference Break

 

Service Fair
11:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Colden Auditorium Lobby

Connect with organizations that provide resources, services, and networking opportunities for immigrant dance artists and workers. Participating groups will share information about how you can be involved in their programs as well as how they can be of support to immigrant artists and workers.

Participating groups include:

  • Artspace Sanctuary & New Sanctuary Coalition
  • Lotus Music & Dance
  • Make the Road
  • Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs
  • New York Foundation for the Arts
  • New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

  • The Actors Fund

 

Legal Clinic
3:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Colden Auditorium Conference Room and Production Offices

The Legal Clinic, organized by Dance/NYC Board Chair Elissa D. Hecker, offers 30-minute individual consultations with arts and entertainment attorneys who specialize in immigration law. The attorneys are volunteering either through the Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Section of the New York State Bar Association or on their own. Attorneys are prepared to discuss legal issues pertaining to immigration questions that arise in the entertainment and arts fields.

Attendees who wish to participate in the Legal Clinic should sign up for a slot through the online form at goo.gl/forms/WUP2JbNsfakdX0wo1.

 

Lunch
3:45 to 5:00 p.m.

Lunch will be provided in the lobbies of the Goldstein Theatre and Colden Auditorium. Outdoor seating will also be available.

 

Pop-Up Performances
3:45 to 5:00 p.m.

Enjoy pop-up performances by immigrant dance artists and groups, curated by our partners at the Queens Theatre.

Participating artists include:

  • Calpulli Mexican Dance Company
  • Tango Mundo
  • Ru Dance
  • Mala's Odissi with Mala Desai and Juhi Pant

 

Closing Keynote

 

Immigrants. Dance. Arts – Stories from the Field
7:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Colden Auditorium, Capacity: 300
Five (5) spaces for wheelchair seating are available.

This session will feature stories of resiliency, artistry, and immigration from NYC-based dance artists followed by a closing conversation on the future of the movement for immigrant rights in the metropolitan NYC area.

Featured speakers:

  • Alejandra Duque Cifuentes, Acting Co-Executive Director, Programming and Justice Initiatives, Dance/NYC (moderator)
  • Kayvon Pourazar, Dancer, Teacher
  • Marco Castillo, Founder, IIPSOCULTA
  • Pelenakeke (Keke) Brown, Artist; Assistant Director, Culture Push
A dancer in a black tutu and leotard and pointe shoes stands on one leg, with the other leg extended behind the body in a straight line. One arm is raised above the head and the other extended to the back parallel to the extended leg. The school director is opposite the dancer and wears a red DTH logo t-shirt and black pants and ballet slippers. She holds the hand of the arm raised above the dancer’s head with one arm and her back arm is extended and she is smiling at the student.

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